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Bittersweet Sensation Cruise

Sail Date:
April 2013

Destination:
Bahamas

Embarkation:
Port Canaveral

I'll start off by explaining the bittersweet of this cruise. The wife and I booked this cruise for one reason and that was to be on the last cruise with a dear friend of ours, Karla Stefanic who works as an MDR hostess on the Sensation.

Karla has taken great care of us due to my wife's food allergies, not only on the ships she has been on with us but also personally emailed other hostesses on other ships that we have sailed on.

After we booked the cruise Karla notified us that due to her pregnancy she would be leaving the Sensation on the day we were boarding. We met with her outside the terminal before she headed to the airport for Croatia to say our goodbyes and wished her well. As always she had arranged a hostess to take care of my wife.

On the second night of the cruise the Maitre D came over to our table and told us that Karla had just e mailed them and wanted to make sure that my wife was being taken care of and to let us know she made it home. More

We used Port Canaveral parking across the street from the Radisson for $ 3.95 a day. This was the first time we decided not to park at the port. We had to be at the terminal by 10 to meet Karla and when I made the reservation I told them that I would be arriving early and was told that there would be no problem since shuttles would be running back and forth to the port that time of the morning. Well lets just say when we arrived we weren't greeted at the luggage drop off zone which was no big deal since we were way early but after I parked the car and started to walk to the office with our luggage I was met by a lady that I'll just call the SARGE. Her first words were, what are you doing here this early, you're not going anywhere until 11. I explained to her the reason why we were early and that I had notified the office about my early arrival. Her response was well they didn't tell me. Well lets just say it went down hill from there with both of us snipping at each other. Finally I told her either put me on a shuttle or refund my card and I'll go park at the port. Well we did get on a shuttle much to the displeasure of the SARGE.

Embarkation: Was a breeze. Went into the Terminal around 1045 and was having lunch by 1130.

Room: Category 1A Upper/Lower interior

I have never stayed in one of these cabins but the price was right for the short notice we had to book this cruise. The room was nice and as far as the upper bunk, it took me back about 45 years ago when my brother and I had bunk beds when we were kids. The only thing I didn't like was that the upper bed stayed down the entire time, I thought that it would be put back up during the day to allow more room in the cabin.

Crew: Very friendly crew, we didn't meet our room steward until the last evening of the cruise but he did do a very good job.

Food: We mainly ate in the MDR the entire time due to my wife's allergies. I've read on other reviews about cold food but all the food we had was great. We also snacked at the buffets and were satisfied with the quality.

Entertainment: Best part of the cruise, the comedians were great. My favorite comedian was on this cruise, Percey Crews 2. The absolute funniest guy I've ever heard. If he is ever on a cruise you're on you have to see him as long as you don't get offended by, well anything.

Ship: Knowing the age of the Sensation and this being the 2nd time on it, she still is in pretty good shape for her age. On the Riviera deck I noticed that there were some soft spots in the floor but the overall appearance was good.

Port of call: This cruise we went to Nassau and stayed overnight there. Since we have been to Nassau so many times we just stayed on the ship and enjoyed the almost empty ship for the day.

Debarkation: Went rather well considering it appeared that half the ship went with self debarkation. We had zone 10 and we were off the ship by 930.

We walked out of the terminal and went to the lot where we waited about 5 minutes for the shuttle to take us back to our car. That went very well but I had to laugh because as I said we got back to the lot around 940 and there was an outside transport van with a luggage trailer dropping people off at the drop off zone and I could hear the Sarge yelling at him to move his van. Less

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Cabin review: Carnival Sensation Upper/Lower Empress R66

Category 1A inside upper/lower beds. Have the steward put the upper bed back into the wall during the day, it gives you more room in the cabin. Great location, walk out the door and you're 10 feet from the elevators and the stairway to the gangway is right there just 1 deck down.